The present invention relates to a system and method for detecting hazardous materials on or inside articles and, more particularly, to a system and method for detecting hazardous materials inside mail and marking them.
All economies depend upon the physical shipment of materials for their functioning including the shipment of mail, merchandise, raw materials, and other goods.
In some circumstances, it is desirable to subject the goods to some type of inspection to determine the presence of hazardous or impermissible materials, including biological and chemical materials. In general, sophisticated sensing systems are known for the detection of hazardous biological and chemical materials. For example, such systems can include conventional laboratory facilities as well as mobile or semi-mobile units that can automatically or semi-automatically detect the presence of the undesired substance or substances. Others include sensor or detectors for hazardous chemicals, explosives, illicit drugs, radioactive particles, and other hazardous materials. These sensors can be used single, or in combinations, to detect as many types of hazardous particles or vapors as required.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,758,712 for detecting apparatus discloses an arrangement for the detection of pin holes in tin plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,021,006 for sorting and identifying sources of work-pieces discloses an arrangement for sorting articles using marker apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,027,830 for recognition apparatus discloses an arrangement for recognizing mail bearing luminescent markings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,277 for article monitoring and reject apparatus discloses which scans articles for defects.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,498 for apparatus and method for coding objects discloses an arrangement for coding envelopes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,687 for barcode translation for deferred optical character recognition mail processing discloses an arrangement for reading standard bar codes as well as other bar codes without the need for using a particular sequence.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,611 for sampling and determining the presence of compounds in containers discloses use of compressed air to displace at least a portion of any contents.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,882 for sampling and determining the presence of salts in containers discloses the detecting of contaminants in bottles using chemiluminescence detection techniques.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,811 for detecting the presence of a hard object in an item of mail discloses an arrangement for detecting a hard object is present inside an envelope.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,040 for work-piece conveying apparatus used with work-piece inspection device discloses the detection of defective wire bonding of work-pieces.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,677 for automated processing of ATM envelopes discloses printing of information on an envelope to provide an audit trail for subsequent processing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,257 for postage metering system that utilizes secure invisible bar codes for postal verification discloses using an invisible secure message in bar code form over the usual postage meter print out.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,397 discloses an arrangement for sorting mailings in which identification information is printed on non-processable mailings.
U.S. Published Application No. US 2002/0126008 published Sep. 12, 2002 and filed Oct. 31, 2001 discloses use of sensors at various locations within a typical mail processing system to sense the presence of a harmful agent.
U.S. Published Application No. US 2002/0124664 shows a mail processing system which includes the screening of mail for contamination by biological or chemical agents.